LANSING – Michigan’s entire congressional delegation has signed a letter to three key federal officials urging rapid completion of a plan to keep the Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.
The letter came out at the end of the week that saw the U.S. Supreme Court refuse to take a case calling for locks along the Chicago Sanitary and Shipping Canal to be closed to block access of the invasive fish to Lake Michigan (House Democrats are demanding the court reopen the matter and consider the case again). During the week, the White House also agreed to a summit called for by Governor Jennifer Granholm and other Great Lakes governors on how to keep the fish from potentially destroying the multi-billion Great Lakes fisheries business.
On Friday, the 17 members of the state’s congressional delegation signed a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agency calling on the federal government to complete its comprehensive response plan to controlling the carp by Friday, February 5.
In the letter, the delegation said it was “very alarmed” at how long it was taking the agencies to complete work on the plan which it has been working on for months.
The letter also said the delegation was “dismayed” at comments made that several hundred carp would have to be found in the Great Lakes before the current action plan was changed to help control the fish.
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